Night at the Circus

A tea set designed for the Global Talent Search 2016. The challenge was to design a tea cup, saucer and napkin for a pastry shop. I was inspired by vintage circus posters and ephemera to find a playful theme that would be unique for the assignment.

Night at the Circus

Sugar Plum Fairy

A cover mock-up of "The Adventures of the Sugar Plum Fairy" - a fictitious title for a illustrated cover contest. I was inspired by my favorite ballet, and a few of my favorite children's books from when I was a little. I always loved the ones with tough little girl heroines.

Ada Lovelace

Collection of character studies and sample work done for the MATS Children's Book illustration course. I used instructor Zoe Tucker's sample text about Ada Lovelace; her childhood and how she grew up into a smart young woman who contributed in the creation of the first computer program. We created a character, studied facial expressions, poses, environment and finally created a cover. This course allowed me to continue the exploration of digital mediums, while simplifying my style for children's book imagery - I chose to work more loosely and retain the sketch quality of my drawings so there is more life and energy in the final product.

Language of Flowers

A journal cover design - the brief was to create a piece based on the Jonquil and include the name as well as the phrase, "The Language of Flowers". In my research I found wonderful illustrated vintage seed packs with turn of the century fonts and lettering which I drew on for inspiration on style and coloring. I also decided to incorporate an animal as they are becoming a more intricate part of my style, and I bunny just seemed to fit perfectly.

CROSS COUNTRY ROAD TRIP

Daily sketches of our big cross country move from DC to California. I used my favorite brush pen and drew in the car so I would feel free to embrace the mistakes and be playful with my lettering. I think I will lean into this practice more regularly to explore the style and see where it takes me.

Jungle Flora

This was created for an Uppercase assignment via Make Art That Sells by Lilla Rogers. The assignment was to create a cover for the magazine's surface pattern design guide. The subject matter and style was left open ended, so I decided to just draw what I felt like. I love drawing animals in twisting shapes and flora. This is an entirely digital piece.

The White Cat

A children's book cover concept created for The White Cat by Comtesse D'Aulnoy. This was done as part of Lilla Roger's Make Art That Sells course. I decided to focus on the imagery of the little dog in the acorn, while working on my character skills. Since the story is fairly dark, I thought the evening sky and night blooms would give it a fairy like quality implying some of the darker side without being scary.

The White Cat

Tarot Card

The Emperor card created for the MATS 2016 Bootcamp Tarot assignment. After researching and being inspired by medieval prints, I was assigned this particular card with the goal of incorporating various elements of symbolism into the piece. The eagle, ram, scepter, sword, armor, mountains, beard are all symbols often portrayed on this card in some fashion. I wanted to represent some of the medieval line qualities I saw in my research while continuing to explore the watercolor style I am enjoying creating.

Vivvie Vicuna

A character concept page for a children's book about a Vicuna. A llama like animal that lives in the mountains of Peru. Vivvie is a tween with a passion for local fashion. I wanted to incorporate the wonderful embroidery and colors from Peru into her style. As well as the great hats and hairstyles that embody some of the women of Peru.

Lumberjack Ornaments

Created for the Make Art That Sells Bootcamp 2016. The assignment was to design ornaments inspired by lumberjacks, their equipment or environment. I really enjoyed creating this piece since it was the first assignment I created completely digitally. It was really exciting to see that I could still achieve my line quality while incorporating more textures that I could easily alter as needed.

Lumberjack Ornaments

Jane Austen Inspired

Jane Austen's work has been a long time favorite of mine. I decided to create a portrait of a women that would have lived during Jane's time. I wanted to play with different digital brushes and levels of realism. I found the somewhat unfinished look was really what made the piece beautiful. Even when creating digitally you need to know when to put the brushes down. She looks excited to see someone enter a room, or about to jump out of her seat. Maybe a Marianne or Emma?

Flower Sketches Fabric Collection

A fabric collection currently in progress. I have enjoyed drawing a variety of florals, and experimenting with patterns, repeats, and color palettes. I am currently making a handful of coordinates while I am testing the color and scale of the patterns via Spoonflower.

Fun with Animals

I like to experiment with line quality, color, and stylizing the expressions and movements of the animals in these quick little digital drawings.

Editorial Self Portrait

Created for the Uppercase Magazine assignment for Make Art That Sells Course. The request: To illustrate your ideal wardrobe or an outfit that best exemplifies who you are as a creative.

This is a self portrait of what I typically wear on any given day - T-shirt and jeans with boots. I live in the District and in a perfect world I could walk around the monuments with my dog everyday, with a perfectly timed breeze.

MATS Home Decor

These four collections were created as part of the Home Decor class by Lilla Rogers. This course gave me the time to explore style, subject matter and composition. As I created the Fabric collection I felt inspired by the floral sketches I produced, and decided to follow that inspiration throughout the rest of the course. I adjusted my color palette and experimented with hand lettering and graphic pattern. There are so many directions that one can take their drawings, this course was invaluable to kickstarting my creative brain again. I highly recommend it.